Criminal MOM Restorative Justice Flashcards
Introduce Restorative Justice
For centuries punishment has been used as the main deterrent to prevent crime.
Punishments such as imprisonments or fines seek to prevent both the offender and others who hear about the case from committing anything like it in fear that they will likely receive the same punishment.
However, more recently there have been different approaches than punishment to deal with a crime one of these is Restorative Justice.
This involves incorporating the victim as part of the rehabilitation for the offender. (if the direct victim is no longer alive it would likely be a close family or friend).
What are the three direct impacts of restorative justice
Rehabilitation of offenders
Atonement for wrongdoing
Positive impact on victim
Describe the first stage of restorative justice
Rehabilitation of offenders can take place during restorative justice as the offender starts to understand the effects on their victim.
When communicating with the victim, the victim can express the real and true impact of the crime. This may help the offender to learn to consider the wider implications of their actions, and possibly prevent them from committing further crime in the future if the offender is able to take responsibility for the crime.
By requiring the offender’s active participation, the consequences will feel more real to the offender which will hopefully change their attitudes and help prevent future recidivism.
Describe the second impact of restorative justice
Atonement for wrongdoing is also achieved through restorative justice. This refers to the act of the offender seeking forgiveness and feeling empathy and remorse for their actions. In Restorative Justice offenders may have the opportunity to offer compensation for their crime. However, the atonement shown by the offender is often psychological when they express their feelings of guilt and remorse. Listening to the victim’s distress may also lead to the offender developing empathy for the victim and less likely to commit crime again in the future.
Describe the third impact of restorative justice
Positive impact on the victim. The victim is often left distressed and without a sense of justice when they are essentially separated from the criminal justice system. They passively observe the ruling of the judge and are then expected to get on with their lives. Restorative justice helps repair the damage done to the victim. It helps reduce their sense of victimisation because they are no longer powerless and have now been given a voice. The victim also gets to hear the account of the offender, which may be beneficial for the victim as it could alleviate concerns of being victim of another attack in the future.
How does Restorative Justice work?
In the UK, For any kind of communication to take place, the offender must have admitted to the crime, and both victim and offender must be willing to participate. Restorative justice can be used for any type of crime and at any stage of the criminal justice system, including alongside a prison sentence.
Restorative justice is overseen by the Restorative Justice Council. Restorative justice is about victims and offenders communicating within a controlled environment to talk about the harm that has been caused and finding a way to repair that harm. For offenders, the experience can be incredibly challenging as it confronts them with the personal impact of their crime. For victims, meeting the person who has harmed them can be a huge step in moving forward and recovering from the crime.
Restorative justice conferences, where a victim meets their offender, are led by a facilitator who supports and prepares the people taking part and makes sure that the process is safe. Sometimes, when a face-to-face meeting is not possible, the facilitator will arrange for the victim and offender to communicate via letters or video conference.
What might restorative justice be seen as an ‘easy way out’ for offenders
Restorative justice may be seen as an easy option as it often consists of just one relatively short face-to-face meeting between the offender and victim whereby the offender simply apologises and gives the victim an explanation. In return, the offender receives either a reduced prison sentence or no sentence at all depending on the crime committed.
This is seen as ‘easy’ due to the fact that the offender could potentially fake an apology and give an explanation without actually feeling any guilt or empathy towards the victim. They could walk away from it with no shame and thus no incentive to change their behaviour, leading to the possibility of recidivism. This implies that restorative justice isn’t an effective method of modifying behaviour and rather just a quick way out.
What is one strength of Restorative Justice
One strength of the effectiveness of Restorative Justice is that it has supporting evidence. For the instance Sherman and Strang (2007) looked at 20 studies of face-to-face meetings between victims and offenders in the UK, US and Australia. It was found that in ALL the cases, there was reduced reoffending,.
In one study with a sample of 142 males convicted of violence and property crimes, there was an 11% reoffending rate with restorative justice compared to a matched control group who served a short prison sentence with 37% reoffending rate.
This suggests that due to its effectiveness at reducing recidivism, having it as an easy option has financial benefits, for example where the cost of restorative justice is less than that of a prison sentence yet also more effective. This also impacts society positively as there is more money to spend elsewhere as well as reduced crime rate overall.
What is one strength of Restorative Justice
Another Strength of Restorative Justice is that if the process highly reduces recidivism, in some cases it could be used as an alternative to prison. This would save the government millions of pounds as each year alone it costs the government 40 thousand to keep just one person in prison. This is a strength as that money could then be put towards other issues while still maintaining reduced recidivism among offenders. Analysis by the Restorative Justice Council and Victim Support demonstrated that providing restorative justice in 70,000 cases involving adult offenders would deliver £185 million in cashable cost savings to the criminal justice system over two years, through reductions in reoffending alone.
What is one weakness of Restorative Justice
One weakness of the effectiveness of Restorative Justice is that it has limited applicability. This is because a restorative justice meeting is dependent on both the offender and victim as they must both agree to take part meaning the method is not available in a lot cases. Additionally, restorative justice cannot be used in cases with no direct personal victim. This is a weakness as while Restorative Justice might be proven effective, is it really useful it can only be used in a small number of cases?
What is one weakness of Restorative Justice
However, One weakness of Restorative Justice is that it could also have negative ethical implications such as psychological harm, one way this could happen is if the offender doesn’t seem to be taking the procedure seriously and doesn’t seem genuinely remorseful of their actions especially if the offender was offered this instead of or reducing a custodial sentence. This could lead to psychological harm as the victim will feel taken advantage off by the offender on top of the crime this person has already committed against them or a loved one.
Additionally psychological harm can be caused to the offender, as an abuse of power may form from the victim. For example, the victims may gang up on offender which can be distressful especially when the offender is a child. The victims may also try and shame the offender which is not the intention of restorative justice, the process is intended to provide mutual benefits, so it’s important offender also feels ‘understood’ as is not shamed throughout.
